Mark Coles back as Pakistan women's head coach on one-year contract

Mark Coles has come back as the head coach of the Pakistan women’s cricket team and is reportedly set to join the squad on their ongoing tour of Australia. Coles has succeeded Saleem Jaffar who had served as the interim head coach of the women’s team.

Apart from serving as the interim coach, Jaffar had also served as the bowling coach of the Pakistan women’s team and worked in tandem with former left-handed batter Taufeeq Umar who was the batting coach.

I have worked with Mark and he is a perfect coach for a women's team: Najam Sethi

"I have worked with Mark and he is a perfect coach for a women's team - gentle but firm, friendly but strict," Sethi told ESPNcricinfo. 

"He is a well-respected coach and in his previous stint with Pakistan he worked incredibly hard for the team's progress,” he added.

“Players only had good words to say about him, hence we have decided to bring him back and he will be joining the team in Australia with immediate effect”, the PCB chief further added.

Notably, this will be Mark Coles’ second stint as the Pakistan women’s team head coach. He had earlier worked in this position from 2017 to 2019 and had resigned from his post citing family commitments.

Reportedly, the Najam Sethi-led management has offered a one-year contract to Coles for his second stint which was instantly accepted by the latter.

During Coles’ first stint, he had guided Pakistan women to seven victories in 16 WODIs and 12 wins in 30 WT20Is. His previous coaching stint was with Scotland women for a term of exactly a year between February 2021 to 2022.

Apart from coaching, Mark Coles has also worked as a high-performance manager with the Japan Cricket Association, Vanuatu Cricket Association and the women’s teams of Western Australia as well as Wellington.

Pakistan Women will be playing a white-ball series in Australia starting Monday, January 16 comprising three One Day Internationals and as many T20Is. They will then be heading to South Africa to participate in the next month’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.

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